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Friday, December 22, 2017

...during one very busy NaNo, about which I've scarcely posted on here, but which was good, and yes, I did complete... I had another new story idea.
(Isn't that always the way it works? Hard at work on one story, and a cute little plot porg dashes through.)
[Yes, I saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Yes, I loved it. Yes, I need a porg. And a crystal critter. Yes, I'll write a review at some point.]

I can't say exactly what sparked the idea. I was in the middle of it before I knew I had begun.

Premise: WHAT IF.... the 'princesses' from fairy tales are actually the suspects in various white collar crimes??

Genre: fairy tale retellings, Ruritanian, mysteryFormat: novella series
(Yes, this means me, the confirmed epic-novel-length writer whose only other fairy tale retelling to date clocked out at 172,000+ words is attempting to keep these books to 40,000 words or below. So far, so good.)

Setting:Country: Charion, a small, fictional European monarchy on the coast of the Mediterranean, across the Adriatic Sea from ItalyCapital city: DynatiaLanguages: Charion, English, GreekChief exports: haute couture fashion, horsesHistory: Modern day descendants of the Illyrians. According to legend, they trace their descent back to Cynane, half sister to Alexander the Great and daughter of the Illyrian princess Audata and Philip of Macedon.

Orion Pegasi = best friend of the prince, former Special Forces soldier, owner of a home security and private security company which has provided security for the upper class houses suddenly being robbed/etc.

Darius Xenophon = cousin of and head of security for the Crown Prince

I'm nearly 10,000 words into the first book, almost one fourth of the
way. It was too good not to plot immediately (I plotted it in 3 1/2 days)
and then begin as soon as NaNo was over.

#1 in the series: The Iron Tongue of Midnight, retelling of Twelve Dancing Princesses.When the house of a Duke is burgled and a priceless collection of high-fashion shoes are taken, white collar crime detectives Roxana and Electra assume that it’s a normal robbery-for-money and arrest a soldier for the theft.But then, the Duke calls in a lawyer to defend the soldier, copies of the shoes begin showing up on the black market, and the detectives discover that Duke's daughters go missing for five hours every night. They're stranded on a hot case, taking pressure from all sides, and have no leads in sight.Two heads are better than one, but those two might not be enough this time.

(I apologize for the very slapdash blurb, I literally threw it together in five minutes instead of the usual hour of rewriting. It will undergo rewrites later.)

Tentative list of fairy tales (in no particular order) coming to the series later:

The Wild Swans

Aladdin

Snow White and Rose Red

East o' the Sun, West o' the Moon

Snow White

Toads and Diamonds

The Little Mermaid

The Ugly Duckling

Cinderella

Little Red Riding Hood

Sleeping Beauty

Peter Pan

Beauty and the Beast

Rumplestiltskin

The Frog Prince

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Rapunzel

Bluebeard

Puss in Boots

Pinocchio

King Thrushbeard

Hansel and Gretel

Cinderlad/Glass Mountain

The Princess and the Pea

Tam Lin

SNIPPETS:

“No.”

“Now, how can you say that without having even seen them?”

The first speaker shook her head as they glanced both ways before crossing the street. “Rox, girl, I did see them. You know I looked them up the first moment you told me about them. And the answer’s still no. Can you see the landlord allowing it?”

“Oh, you know that Melantha would convince him.” Roxana drained the last of the coffee from the cup in her left hand.

Creamy golden sunlight spilled down over the white columns of the building they were approaching, an old temple that now housed the police headquarters for the city of Dynatia.

“How would we persuade Hannibal and Zenobia to leave it alone? And how would Caliburn and Ariel take being displaced in your affections?”

Her companion snorted and detoured briefly to throw the empty cup into a trash can before catching up to her in three long strides. “They’d be fine. Think about it. Electra, really. Tiny deer! Tiny. Deer. Come now, you can’t tell me you don’t love the picture.” Ruby lips curved into an enchanted smile at the vista she painted.

“I have pictured it, and it’s everything adorable and precious, and I’d enjoy it. Pity it’s not practical right now, Snow White. A baby Groot on the other hand… I could really go for one of those.”

Roxana snorted. “Couldn’t we all?”

**********

“He is a private investigator, so he has to protect client information, but… how are we supposed to clear him if we don’t know where he was?” Roxana thumped her desk in frustration. “Go do bad cop quickly, please, so I know what you think.”

“Eee, sig nai, that’s not going to happen.” Dinos walked in and resumed his seat at his desk. A homicide detective, he not infrequently gave them a hand on a case if he had no work of his own. They had returned the favor more than once. Here, everything was shared.

“What do you mean?” Electra demanded, both she and Roxana coming up out of their chairs as though pulled by a magnet and turning to look through the window of the interrogation room.

“He lawyered up,” Dinos said, jerking over his shoulder with his thumb. “I don’t know about you, but arguing with the prince of my country wasn’t on my list for today.”

“The prince?!” Roxana exclaimed, startled into near-hoarseness.

“Which prince?” Electra asked, eyes narrowing.

“The Prince,” another colleague breathed in a starstruck whisper, bounding up to them, having looked through the window into the room.

“I don’t have time for games,” Electra reminded her, fixing her with a stern look.

The colleague gulped, but her eyes didn’t loose their starry shine. She took a deep breath, the better to deliver her solemn announcement.

“The Crown Prince. Alexander Philippi Illyroi, Sword of His People, Heir to the Throne of Charion.”

**********

“See what we can dig up on the suspect,” Roxana added.

“Legally,” their boss reminded them sternly.

“Of course,” they assured her in unison.

In the process of removing her badge and gathering her bag, their boss gave them a dubious look over her shoulder.

Her detectives looked innocently back at her.

“Get outta here.” She flapped her hands at them. “Go eat dinner or something. I’m going to see my cousins.”

“We need to go over the case again,” Electra said, and Roxana felt a prickle of disappointment. If her partner thought they needed to review the case again right away, she would stay, but until Cassandra had mentioned it, she hadn’t realized how hungry she was.

“No,” their captain said forcefully. “No, no, no. Nothing is more important than dinner. Unless it’s the King,” she amended hastily, seeing both women open their mouths. “Go eat, that’s an order. Rox, get her out of here.”

“Kids,” she muttered as she brushed out of the doorway ahead of them. “No respect for tradition or common sense. Skip dinner indeed. Like working on an empty stomach is going to accomplish something. Or that work is more important than food. What nonsense did they learn in their high falutin college?” Her complaining gradually died away down the hall.

Roxana looked at Electra, who shrugged.

“We better get going if we don’t want her wrath on us.”

**********

In a cafe several streets away, Crown Prince Alexander parted from Konos with a firm hug. “Remember, not a word to anyone else for now,” he cautioned.

“I know, yes, sir. Thank you, sir, for helping me.”

Alexander thumped him on the shoulder. “Nothing to it. The detectives don’t have much to go on, and they can’t charge you. You’re innocent in the eyes of the law.”

Konos hesitated. “Eeee, sir, they don’t look like the kinds of people to just sit back quietly and not try to net every dead fish in the shallows.”

He considered that briefly, then shrugged. “I said I’d handle your case, so don’t worry about it. Get back to whatever secret project you’re investigating for the Duke.”

Konos’s parting words were so quiet that the prince barely heard them as he went towards the door.

“Thank you, my captain.”

Alexander paused and then shrugged. “Can’t lose a good soldier now.” The final grin he sent his former comrade was a reminder. Focus. Stay on the mission. I’ve got your back as much as you ever had mine.

**********

“So, how much like the Greeks are you?” asked a third tourist at the table.

“Well, we don’t swear as much as the Greeks do.” Roxana tilted her head and sent a laughing glance at them from beneath long eyelashes.

“Just almost as much,” Electra added.

“The difference is really very slight, hardly worth mentioning,” said a young man at another nearby table. One of the regulars, he roomed at the same boarding house she and Electra did.

“Some of us have more to fill our head than swear words, Kovo,” Electra remarked dryly, quelling him.

**********

“I approve of this Duke,” Electra said abruptly a moment later.

Roxana paused with her water bottle half way to her mouth. “And why is that, O Sage?”

“Well, if you’re going to have twelve daughters, it is pretty handy to name them after the months. Easy for people to remember. Not very many people seem to consider sense when naming their children. I really think more people should.”

“Ew! Who wants to do that? Naming someone is all about aesthetic, Miss Common Sense. The names need to sing. To have meaning. To flow.”

“Hey! I never said they didn’t! But it also helps if people can pronounce them, too,” Electra countered. “I think both should be combined for a harmonious whole.”

“Mmmmm. When I have kids,” Roxana said dreamily, propping her booted feet up on the corner of her desk, “I’m going to name them the most beautiful, aesthetically pleasing names ever, and if people can’t pronounce them at once, they can learn how.”

“You would.” Electra tossed down the file of one daughter and began on another. “I’ll be around to give them easily remember-able nicknames which commoners can use.”

Thursday, November 16, 2017

I don't have a long list of hobbies. Mostly they revolve around words in some way. My work is words and my play is often words, as well. Houston, we might have a problem. (What is play, Precious? What is RELAX??)

Near the very top of that list is beta reading. Through beta reading I've gained several friends– including my two best friends– and seen the deeper side of many people, the side not readily shown to the public. I rarely have the time for it that I'd like anymore (it's called being an adult), but I still alpha read for my three favorite contemporary writers and occasionally beta read for others.

But why? What is it about beta/alpha reading that makes me love it so much, even when I'm so busy with other things that I can only fit bits and pieces of it in for weeks at a time? What kept me going from offering to beta a ridiculous number of books one year to gradually whittling down the list to the people whose work I most love or about which I am most curious?

A love for stories and for storytelling runs strong in my blood, and I exult in releasing that through writing. But there is a unique and powerful joy in watching others do that too. Especially if the author is a favorite of mine. There is an indescribable wonder in being able to give an author feedback that will help them. There is an elation in watching a book come out in full published splendor, knowing where it began and seeing how it has been refined to be shown now in shining glory.

It's not all fun and games and cheering someone on. It's not all sunshine and rainbows and free books to read. It’s actually a very serious charge. Each book is a part of their author's soul. So when they hand it to you, they are entrusting you with a part of themselves. Handle with Care might as well be written all over it in red Sharpie marker. Through their story, you see a part of them that is not always readily seen elsewhere.

It took me a few years to settle into a comfortable style that combined my preferences with what authors need. Early on, I tried too hard and wasn’t honest enough. I saw the flaws but tried to only focus on the good. Feedback should DEFINITELY highlight the good parts, but if there are areas that need work, those should be pointed out too, else the beta/alpha reading won't be helpful enough. It needs to be honest and yet encouraging.

Sometimes, especially with books that have a good core but
the execution is sadly lacking, it’s hard to figure out how to be
honest without being harsh. It’s also hard when I love a book and know that it really is good, to make sure the author knows I'm not just 'gushing'. There’s nothing wrong with being enthusiastic about something I love, but for an author to know I seriously examined and analyzed the work, the love has to be backed up with specifics over what I liked and WHY I liked it so much. I have to have rational explanations to be helpful.

It's also frustrating when the feedback you gave seems not to have helped the author at all, or worse and most frustrating, when you spent hours working on feedback for someone's book and the author never responds even to say whether they liked it or not/it was helpful/it wasn't helpful. *cue irritated beta reader who privately declares never to read for that author again*

Above all, the thing I love most about reading or critiquing other authors' work is the sheer delight of helping an author see their work through the eyes of a reader, and then to watch them bring their work to completion.

That’s what started me on the road of beta reading, and then alpha reading. (It's also what prompted me to transition into the world of critiquing [more analytical and technical than beta reading] as one of my editorial services.)

It's hard work sometimes, and definitely a challenging balance to try to walk most of the time, but the work is more than repaid when someone tells you that your feedback was invaluable, when someone comes BACK to you and specifically asks you to read something else they wrote because what you did before helped, or when you hold in your hands a book you first saw as a half-feathered first draft, and it's fully feathered now and ready to fly.

That's when it's time to grab your friends by the throat and tell them, ‘YOU REALLY NEED TO READ THIS BOOK.’

That's honestly the best part of it all.

Do you beta or alpha read for authors? What's your favorite part about it?

Thursday, October 12, 2017

"It's just fiction, what's the big deal?"
"It's just a story, why are you being so critical of it? Give it a break."
"It's a made-up world, you know, why is it irritating you so much?"

All are questions I- and my close friends- have heard multiple times.

People approach fiction differently. Some see it as mere entertainment, to be enjoyed for a few hours and then left behind. Some see it as escape, either from stress or from a darker life. Others see it as a vehicle of social commentary. Still others see it as an expression of a society, a weapon and/or a tool.

For some people though, it’s something more than just an art form. It’s a lifestyle, a passion, a great mirror that reflects the world– and themselves.

Without judging any of the other viewpoints, I’d like to expound on the last one and why I hold it.

Stories can change lives.

Once we read or watch a story, it becomes a part of us. Whether it's only temporarily– for the duration of its being read– or whether permanently, something that we'll remember even when old and gray. Fiction
can inspire us to become better versions of ourselves, alert
us to problems in the world we weren't aware of before, help us process our thoughts and opinions on an issue, assist us in dealing with a rough situation/grief/a
hard life, or just make us draw a long breath and soak in
the beauty of the story for a minute. Beauty is vital to a balanced life.

Writing fiction is a craft. True, it is an art, but it's also a craft in which there are standards of what is good writing and what is bad writing. When a story has a good plot but is badly written, or when the writing is good but the plot is ridiculous, it falls short of the mark. Yes, that irritates me, it even disgusts me at times, when it's plain that the author didn't care enough to put more time and effort into a story. It's even more frustrating when authors perpetuate bad fiction, either because it was published by traditional houses and found a market or because with the rise of self publishing, literally anything can be published nowadays.

A good story doesn't just have some snarky characters, witty dialogue and a few unusual worldbuilding elements or relationships. A good story is one that unites a unique plot (or an original handling of an old trope/story) with characters who feel like they could be real people, were you to walk into the pages of said story, enhanced by a setting that is vivid in its appeal to the senses, and all of it told, if not brilliantly, then well.

Granted, achieving that takes work, and I'm not at all implying slurs against amateur authors or their work. I'm just describing why I take such a critical approach to evaluating literature.

For some people,
they can read books, class them as entertainment, and turn away with a
shrug. But for myself and my closest friends, it’s never JUST fiction. We don’t consider each and every one of the books we write to be a lightning bolt message from God or some social cause, but at the same time, it’s not merely a story to us. Besides being a part of our souls, stories can change the world, one person at a time. We write them with the hope that they'll live long in the memory of the readers, even if only because they're angry with us, the author. (Hey, all the best books make at least one person mad.)

The good books, the ones I actually finish, and the ones I eventually
re-read, those are the reason I read fiction. And I look for the same
quality in what I read that I strive for in what I write.

If there is no standard for which to strive, there is no bar to inspire us to reach higher. If we're going to write and read fiction, let it be good fiction. Let it do something to make our day brighter, not harder. Let it give us something to take away and keep with us for the rest of our lives.

As Leo McGarry once said, in Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing, "And let THAT be our legacy."

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

A couple weeks ago I made a post on Intuitive Writing Guide about where to look for cover designers for your book. In this post I said "Having artist friends is great, BTW, in case anyone was wondering, every author should have some artist friends."

HERE'S WHY having artist friends is so great for an author.

Artists see the world differently from anyone else.

They are intensely visual people, naturally. It is their passion (and often their job) to vividly picture something and then visually create it (as opposed to verbally creating it with words).

They look at a scene and they see colors, they see harmony and disharmony, they see aesthetics, they see 'vibes' from characters often embodied as colors or concepts (one reason I love them so much).

As someone who thinks in 'vibes' and designs characters based on 'auras', I adore this about them. I especially love how they can distill a vibe or an aura down to a 'single encompassing element' so to speak, making me sit back and go, 'Wow. I didn't see it like that but YOU JUST NAILED IT.' And that comment can revolutionize the way I see a scene or character.

[You know you've been spending a lot of time with artists when an artist's wife hears you describe
something to them and says, 'Y'know, you kind of see things the way an artist does'.]

My artist friends have helped me improve my visuals in writing, because of
the inspiration they send, the feedback they give, and how they constantly talk
about and 'live in' a mood of aesthetics. Aesthetic is vital to them, and if you hang around long enough (and are open-minded enough), you'll begin to feel that influence, and it will change the way the world looks to you. It's amazing.

An artist's medium is visual. An author's is words.
They're opposites, but highly complimentary opposites. Artists must condense into a picture what an author can use two pages to describe with words... and an author must use three sentences to portray what artists can 'simply' (art is rarely 'simple') show with two shades of one color.

If an artist tells you, "Your visuals in this scene are very good", you're doing something right. If they say, "These visuals are GREAT and I love them!", you know you're REALLY doing something right.

Close friendships always go through levels. After you and your artist friend have gone through the lower levels of:
'I'm comfortable with showing you some of my writing now.'
'I'm comfortable with showing you some of my art now.'
'*fellow creatives in opposite mediums sometimes have to spend a few
minutes figuring out what words to use to make the other understand a concept*'
'Okay, just don't say that to an artist.'
'And don't say that to an author.'

...there are a few glorious, silver, upper levels, when your artist friend says:1. "I want to sketch this character/creature/scene/landscape."2. "OHMYGOSH, I HAVE TO SKETCH THIS CHARACTER OF YOURS." And then they do it. (TOTALLY. FANTASTIC.)3. "WHEN YOU PUBLISH THIS BOOK, I WANT TO DO THE COVER ART." (O.o Did you really just say what I think you said... ohmygosh...WHOA.)

On the flip side of the coin, it's intensely gratifying and thrilling for them to sketch or draw something for an author and have the author's reaction be open-mouthed surprise, speechless shock, or semi-incoherent squealing of, 'OHMYWORD YOU PERFECTLY CAPTURED THE scene/character/vibe/etc.'

Author-artists are a beautiful, fascinating, and rare (well, the good ones are) breed. Not only can they portray their stories in art to give people visual references, but the way it affects their writing is intriguing to trace. They look at the 'blocking of a scene' differently. They may not be outliners or plotters, but they can picture a scene vividly in full detail and write it down, instinctively capturing it. Also, verbal description might not be one of their strong points, but most of the time, you'd never know it because what descriptions they do have LIVE, mostly because they instinctively pick out the important background pieces and feature those.

Which in turn has taught me what background pieces are important in writing and what are less so.

So that's all very well and awesome, you say, but you don't just jump into a great relationship with an artist, right? It grows. And there are things to learn along the way. Little tips and tricks that lessons for any good friendship, tailored to the particular breed of people known as artists.

Encourage them.
Artists are every bit as self conscious about their art as you are about your writing (if not even more timid sometimes). Even if they've gone to college and trained for art, they're self conscious, they doubt themselves. Encourage them, ask to see their art, sometimes even nag them to show you their WIPs (this should only be done with certain personalities that require persuasion and actually are comfortable with showing you their WIPs, so tread carefully here and feel this part out).

Be honest with them.
Tell them when you like things or when it's a great picture but not quite your personal type. Tell them WHAT you like about a picture, 'the colors here are amazing!', 'HIS EYEBROWS ARE GLORIOUS', 'can I have her HAIR please'. This thrills them, but only if it's true. Artists are very quick to spot false enthusiasm or fake praise. Believe me, this will be unhealthy for them, for you, and for the world in general. They may be polite but most of them have long memories...and fierce pencils.

If you don't know anything about art, shut up.
'But you just told me to be honest.' Yes. Yes, I did. This is a tricky line to walk. Be honest about whether you like a picture, what you like about it, etc. But if you don't really have an eye for art, refrain from making comments like, 'his eye looks off', or 'maybe his forehead is too narrow' or 'her shoulder is crooked'. It will frustrate the blazes out of an artist and they might stop showing you their work.

In conclusion, artists are a wonderful people and incredible to have as friends. Get yourself some, if you possibly can... and hang on for the ride.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Naming characters is one of the most important parts of setting up the plot to write your story. Certainly it can be one of the toughest. It can also be one of the most rewarding, not only because of the amount of symbolism and plot that can be wrapped up in it but because names have associations and if you do your job right, people will remember your characters. If I were to say 'Aragorn' you'd immediately think 'Lord of the Rings'. If I say 'Severus' you immediately think 'Harry Potter'.

So how do I apply the guidelines I talked about yesterday to my own stories? I'm going to use my last four projects as examples:Wings of the Tiger (my current WIP)Queen Beauty and the Beasts (NaNo 2016)A Certain Darkness (NaNo, 2015, JuNo 2016, on-hiatus WIP)Ebony and Aubergine (on-hiatus WIP)

A Certain Darkness
Psychological political thriller set in a future in
which humans have spread out across the galaxy and what were countries
on earth are now planets or star systems.

The story takes place on the Korean planet in an elite college for orphans.
Most of the students are Korean and their names reflect that, but the MCs are an Irish guy and an Italian girl. Their names reflect this: Liare Patrick Delaney and Verena Silvesti.

Wait a minute, you say. Patrick and Delaney are Irish in origin but Liare?

That's where it being a futuristic novel worked in my favor. I'd made up the name 'Liare' and loved it. I knew it had to be this guy's first name. By keeping his middle and last names Irish, I could convey the feeling of his heritage (which is significant to the story) while using a name which I loved, which needed to be his, and which sounded futuristic-y (thus adding to the atmosphere of the novel) without being too hard to pronounce. [It's pronounced Lee-AIR if you're wondering and the meaning has something to do with 'light'.]

Queen Beauty and the Beasts
Urban fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast + Phantom of the Opera set in contemporary South Korea.

This
was one of the easiest books to character-name. Since
almost everyone is Korean, including the male MCs, I chose their names after poring over
several lists of Korean names and using my favorites or ones whose sounds matched the personality of each character. The FMC is Argentinian, and her name– Belleza– means beauty, allowing me to reference both the Disney form (Belle) and her name in the original fairy tale (Beauty).

Ebony and Aubergine
Historical fantasy Scarlet Pimpernel retelling, set in the 1800s on a fictional continent in the Pacific.

I knew I wanted the names to be primarily Arabic and Persian with the culture being a blend of Arabian, Persian, and East Asian cultures. Which on first impression just sounds insanely impossible. How do you even DO that?

Like this: the land was settled by Arab pirates, but due to the influx of refugees and other diaspora reasons, it's now a mix of East Asian and Arab culture, with the current inhabitants mostly of East Asian blood but with Arab names.

The meanings of said names play into pretty much every thread and sub-thread of this book. The FMC's name– Zahira– is the feminine form of Zahir, which means 'helper, supporter' (not saying anything other than that because SPOILERS SWEETIE). The Sir Andrew character is named Mustafa (if you read Mufasa, I don't blame you) which means 'the chosen one' - significant given his place at his leader's right hand. Lord Tony's name means 'knight'.

Wings of the Tiger
East Asian historical fantasy set on a fictional continent which is an Asian pseudo-Atlantis. (Yeah, I kind of have a thing for fictional continents inspired by legends.) [I might have a thing for East Asia, too, not that anyone would notice.]

The two MCs are from Korea, then known as Goryeo. Their names are native Korean words, but at the time (and to a great extent now) Korea didn't use native descriptive words as names. So I've just broken a major rule in writing HiFy, and one I cautioned people just yesterday not to break.

Or did I?

I needed their names to be Bora and Nari because of several reasons (in-joke relating to the inspiration of the book, the meanings of the names, easy to say and remember), but I needed a way to 'break the rule' without breaking the rule. So I established (er, am establishing, I'm only in the 3rd chapter of the book) that the names 'Bora' and 'Nari' were the girls' nicknames, which they adopted as their names while on the run, to disguise their real names. Then they just kept them when in the new land.

'Plot darning' Mirriam Neal has called it, and even those of us who are
obsessive plotters have to do it sometimes, though certainly not to the extent that
pansters do.

Almost everyone else in the story is from the fictional continent on which the story is set, and their names are my inventions or alterations to fit in with the semi-Mongolian culture I've put together.

{NOTE: Wings of the Tiger is now open for beta/alpha reading, so if you're not
on FB and didn't see the announcement there but do want to read this
story, leave me a comment. Please, only readers willing to give
feedback. I'm not asking for intensive critique feedback, just the usual beta
stuff.}

So, that's how I personally get away with doing both what I want in regards to names but also following guidelines of good, believable naming in stories. Because who doesn't want to break rules without breaking rules?

How did you come up with the names for the characters in your WIP? What is the explanation for them within your story universe?

Thursday, June 1, 2017

It was an odd phrase that caught my attention. On a Sunday afternoon, several months ago, I was watching the latest episode of a Chinese drama about a teen, female martial artist. I’d started the drama because it starred one of my favorite Korean actors as the coach, and kept going because not only was his character good but the camaraderie between the students of the central martial arts hall was beautiful.

In this particular episode, the FMC and the coach were in Japan for a competition and she’d just Skyped home to talk to her friends. As they said goodbye, her best friend– a cute, petite girl in pigtails– hollered ‘don’t forget to miss me!’

The call ended and both sets of people went on with their day. It wasn’t highlighted— it was almost a throw-away phrase— but it struck me strongly.

It can come across as clingy: 'she's only gone for a week, what's the big deal? What a needy friend.’

I’ve struggled with this concept myself for months. As a fiercely independent person, I loathe the idea of being clingy. I often have trouble understanding the difference between being clingy and being dependent. Even being attached to someone comes with a set of problems for me, because to be attached to the point of dependence on someone feels to me— initially— to be a sign of weakness.

I’ve spent hundreds of hours in conversation with my closest friends on this topic, ranging from as long ago as three years to as recently as earlier this week. (100% honesty 24/7 is seriously recommended with your best friend/s, people, FYI, even if you want to protect them or think they're too stressed to handle it right then.)

You become friends with someone because you like them (usually). The closer you grow to that person, the more they become a part of your life. With your best friends— who should be a near-constant part of your life— you SHOULD miss them if they’re gone for a week. The healthiest best friends want to share almost everything with each other: experiences, feelings, opinions, likes and dislikes. The abnormal thing would be if your friend was gone for a week with minimal contact, someone you talk to every day of the week and with whom you share everything, and you DIDN’T miss them.

Being clingy is a problem, because clinginess is when you expect the other person to carry you all of the time and don’t work to stand on your own feet– instead of only leaning on a friend at times, and offering your shoulder for leaning in return. Clinginess is when there isn’t a balance, when you convince yourself that you can’t get through a single day without constant contact with that person.

There’s a difference between clinginess and dependence.

Being DEPENDENT is not wrong. One of the main purposes of a close relationship— whether platonic or romantic— is to help each other along the road called life, to be a travel buddy, a soul or heart partner. This can’t happen if you’re not dependent.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

I love the MBTI test. As someone who finds the study of personalities and psychology fascinating, I’m always interested in knowing what a person’s type is. Of the dozens of personality test I've personally tried, I prefer this one because of the variety. There are 16 distinct personality types (32 subtypes if you include the -T or -A designation), which makes it easier for everyone to find their type. I’ve also found it easier to explain to people than most other personality tests.

That said, there are definitely flaws with constantly using it to identify yourself, particularly when you box yourself in with it.

It’s not foolproof
It’s not uncommon for people to be mis-typed. Often (but not always) this is because a person doesn’t know themselves well enough to correctly answer all of the questions. For example: my ENFP sister thought she was an INFP for months because the test always gave her that result. I kept telling her she was an extrovert, but until she had heard a comprehensive explanation of the differences between extroverts and introverts, she couldn’t answer some of the questions correctly and correspondingly the test was giving her the wrong result.

Other times this is because some versions of the test have a neutral option on the questions, making it harder for the test to conclusively sort people.

Still other times it’s because an alternative testing site or book was used to type someone, instead of the ‘official’ internet/book test.

Sometimes, even when none of these apply, the online or self-administered test is still wrong. Here’s why: IT’S AN EQUATION. Every person is a unique individual, but the online test is a generalized, computer-run test. It takes your answers and computes them according to the list criteria , yes, but it’s still only an equation. Mathematics cannot accurately define a human because of the wide range of personalities and intricacies found in each person. Sometimes it takes another human that knows you well enough to help walk you through it and define you correctly.

Also, learning from just any book on the topic can be hard because many books are written by people who deal more in data than in practicality, (think of it as ‘clinical psychology’ vs ‘practical psychology’).

It can create misunderstandings
If you type an MBTI designation into Pinterest or Google, you’ll get thousands of results. But not all of them are right. (In fact, Pinterest is often the opposite of right.) What you see are usually stereotypes (often incorrect ones) or simply wrong assumptions.

For example: INFPs are often far deeper intellectually than they are portrayed. INTJs have a reputation for being hard at communication, but that’s not true either; they’re just wary of communicating with most people.

So view the results with a few grains of salt and remember that individual characteristics can’t be generalized and for each type, there is still a wide range of unique personalities.

It can lead to false representations
Leading off of the previous point, it’s easy to dislike some of the representations about your personality type and thus try to 'cross types' or represent yourself as a hybrid in an effort to escape type cliches and stereotypes.

Occasionally, there may be true MBTI hybrids––it's possible, but because of how specific the test is, most people usually fall into one type, even if only by a small percentage.

It’s better to step up and prove to people that even though you are a type typically known for flightiness (INFP for example) you are not solely defined by your type. You are more than that.

It can enable a mindset of excusing
It’s easy, especially in the American culture of today, to use your type as an excuse for your behavior. ‘well, I’m an INTJ and I’m smarter than 97% of the people I know, so it’s okay for me to be rude to them.’ No. It’s not. Hearkening back to being more than your type, no one has an excuse for being rude, inconsiderate, or downright willfully stupid.

You can utilize your personality designation without boxing yourself in. Just remember this one little fact:

It’s only one part of the puzzle

Many factors besides personality type go into determining a one’s complete personality, including but not limited to: history, background, genetic heritage, gender, family, career, and whether they are left brain or right brain.

Knowing your type can be incredibly helpful for other people to understand you or for you to understand the world around you and how you react to it. But it’s still only a part of the picture, even if it's a hugely significant part.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Friendship is one of the greatest gifts on this earth. Whether you're casual friends who only talk a couple times a year or see each other now and then at church or school functions, good friends who talk more frequently and hang out often, or best friends who talk to each other every single day- telling each other everything- and can't live without each other, there is a tangible magic in friendship.

But friendships are also hard. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something... or delusional. Relationships require WORK. Period.

‘There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for,’ says Samwise Gamgee, on the way to Mount Doom. I’m not going to analyze their friendship today, that’s for another post. But, just take a moment and think about his words and apply them to friendships specifically.

As humans in a fallen world, we’re messed up. It’s a fact. But, part of who we are as humans means we’re supposed to be interdependent on each other. (Stars, isn’t THAT hard for some of us.) God wants relationships with His people, sure, but He also created us to have relationships with each other.

There’s no crystal ball that we can look into as a child and know what people to befriend and whom to avoid. It doesn’t work like that. Relationships are growing things.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, what your gender is, or your religious/political affiliation. While all of these things can and do affect friendship, at its core, friendship is simply two people realizing that the road ahead is better
or more fun when walked together instead of alone. You might meet someone when you’re younger and you remain friends throughout your life. Others come and go. You might know someone for ten years and then find out that you’ve grown into such different people that you drift apart.

When you become friends with someone, there is you, them, and your
dynamic together- it's a three-part relationship, not two-part. And sometimes, parts one and two outgrow part three. It happens. Sometimes they become incompatible for other reasons. Fights and conflicts happen and sometimes friendships don’t survive those.

When you find those friends that truly ‘get you’ and you know you want to keep them for a long, long time, and you believe that it's possible to keep them for a long time- you two are that compatible- it’s not enough to just say ‘I like you, let’s be best friends forever’ or whatever kids these days say (hey, I grew up in the 90s). You still have to work for it and at it.

But those are the friendships that are worth fighting for- through conflict, and different outlooks on life, and disagreeing on other people and their place/s in the lives of one of you. Times when one or both of you is so busy that you can’t talk much or hang out, times when you’re both so happy that you might not be paying attention to details much and unintentionally don't include the other person as much, meaning you need to be reminded that they are feeling left out. Big things, little things, things that are a big deal to one but a little deal to the other, changing viewpoints, changing circumstances, and other friends that come and go for each of you.

You’ll have days of sailing so smoothly that you feel like you’re flying. You’ll have beautiful blue skies and clear water and a swift breeze to fill your sails. But you’re also going to go through rough times. You’re going to hit whitewater rapids and sandbars. You’re going to feel like you’re sinking, to wonder if you’ll ever breathe air again.

The trick is to not let go when you hit those rough spots. To fight for each other. To dig your heels in and say, 'I don’t care HOW LONG this takes, I’m not leaving. We’re darn well going to figure this out.' No matter what life throws at you, you're stronger together than apart, and THAT'S what makes it worth fighting for.

And yes, sometimes it’s hard to know when you’re fighting for someone who doesn’t deserve it, who doesn’t really CARE because they don’t fight for you. Sometimes you have to fight longer and harder because the other person really does have walls that need to come down but they need you to believe in them first, they’re too wounded and broken and have locked themselves away too well. They need your help coming out. But other times, people don’t really care. They don’t fight for you because they are using you. Or you don’t really matter all that much to them.

It can be a fine line between the two. Sometimes you get it wrong- you leave someone you should have stuck next to, or you stay with someone you should have left.

But we’re all human. We all make mistakes. We all mess up.

Just try your best to make sure that your friendship is worth fighting for. Then give it all you’ve got.

Friday, April 28, 2017

Technoise is all around us. From the three to seven types of social media that each average person has, to the fact that you can shop for almost anything on Amazon now, this is the Computer Age, and the Internet dominates our lives. It is the century of the smartphone and tablet, when you can carry your entire social life and work/student life in your pocket. Between Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, your friends and family can stay updated on every second of your life... almost literally. Children of ten have smartphones and children of 6 have Kindles. New technology comes out every year; just the other day I saw news that two separate companies are attempting to make Star Trek tricorders a reality. *nerd cheering*

This has created a very different society from that of our parents and grandparents, and even from when some of us were younger. (Those of you born in the late 80s - early 90s know what I'm talking about.) With all of this technoise hovering in a cloud wherever we are, it can be a challenge to remain grounded and in tune with other people and with ourselves. The Unplug Mentality says that the only way to return to a simpler lifestyle and reconnect with people and ourselves is to get away from it all by completely disconnecting from devices/the internet for a time.

I'd like to offer an alternative perspective.

You don't have to completely disconnect in order to take a break. Often prioritizing will accomplish the same thing. Set limits and then stick to them. Make reasonable goals. Reward yourself if you meet your goals and deprive yourself of something if you don't reach them because of procrastination. Life happens and often schedules go awry because of circumstances out of our control. But procrastination and distraction are things we can control. If you were looking forward to reading a new book but spent 20 minutes surfing the web for no reason, then don't allow yourself to read the book until the next day, or take 20 minutes out of your usual reading time.

I'm an introvert. I need my private time. I need time away from
everyone except for a tiny handful of people. (Literally. I can count
them on the fingers of one hand.) Yet much of my life right now uses my
computer and/or the internet. I've had to evolve coping methods and
set limits to try to achieve a balance, because otherwise I'm worn out all the time and summoning energy when I need it is hard.

At times, I go several days
without answering messages because I can only handle so much people time in one day and Facebook/gmail chatting with people drains me almost as much as face-to-face interaction. (Exceptions: my best friends or if a message preview indicates that someone is having a rough day and needs me.) I'm trying to stay
off Facebook one day a week (usually Sunday), though I'll still use gmail chat if I need to
communicate with a close friend. Some
nights I stay offline for an extra half an hour after supper and just
read. Some mornings I take an extra half hour or an hour to be around my family
before logging online.
On Saturdays I don't usually go online until noon. I've been working on logging off of Facebook between 9 and 9:30 every night and unless
I'm expecting an important message, need to check on someone, or I'm
highly energized after my shower, I don't go back on until the next morning. I use that
time to exercise, read, write, watch an episode of a TV show/drama, or plan schedules.

I'm a high-focus person. I can concentrate through almost anything, but like most people, the less distractions I have, the better I work. If I'm working on a blog
post for my writing blog, I won't answer messages from anyone except my best friends. If I'm editing, critiquing, or writing, I often work in bursts of 20-30 minutes of focus and then 5-10 minutes of checking social media or reading blogs. On the rare times when I have to absolutely focus on only one thing, I mute all my email and social
media browser tabs and ignore my phone... but rarely for longer than one hour at a time. People need breaks to keep them fresh. (Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm extremely bad at taking breaks but I'm trying to learn.)

As regards my writing, I often set word limits, particularly during NaNo or an
intense push on a project. I won't log onto Facebook in the mornings
until I have 1000 words written. (This doesn't take as long as you
might think, about 30-45 minutes when I'm in the groove).

One of my best friends has chosen to
stay off Facebook all day on Sundays. She'll still access Instagram,
Tumblr, email, and sometimes Pinterest, but she stays off Facebook. This gives her a break from people in general and allows her to relax. During the week, the two of us often 'work together' where we'll go for half an hour just quietly working on our own projects with the occasional comment. This allows us to spend time together and accomplish things at the same time.

Face-to-face (or chat-to-chat) interaction is important. For some people it's less of a necessity than for others. Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, it's a good idea to set limits for yourself. Sometimes, you do just need to take a whole day or two off. I've done that before, too, though in general I prefer not to.

I'm a long way from feeling truly balanced, but this is a strategy that
has me on the right road. I hope you found it helpful, and if you
didn't, then I hope you do find something that works for you.

This is not a reflection on anyone or an attack on anyone else's perspective. I understand that many people feel like their break has to be unplugging
or going offline for a week or even a weekend at a time. I'm merely presenting an alternative perspective. (Not alternative facts, though, I'll leave that to Ms. Conway.)

Best wishes to you in discovering your balance of technoise and communication vs. peace and harmony!

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was an adorable baby girl born to a human family in the United States of America.

That same day, a girl child was born to a family in the land of The Ageless Ones. Her father was a misbegotten djinn, kicked out of his society for exceeding his mandate and continually using his power to help humans. Her mother was an outcast fairy, a bandit of the order of Robinhood.

The djinn and the fairy knew that if the Elder Council of the Ageless Ones learned of the child, they would be required to live within reach of the Elders and raise the child according to their dictates, to ensure she would grow up to be a law-abiding citizen. Neither wished such a cloistered life for their child, instead longing for her to fully experience Earth in all its glory, growing her own earthly elemental powers.

So they did the only thing they felt they could. The mother located the human child born the same hour and minute as hers, and taking her own daughter, flew to switch them, intending to leave the human child as a foundling on the steps of Starlak Cathedral. It was not uncommon for the fairies, elves, gnomes, sylphs, and undines to raise abandoned human children.

A gnomi princess received an orphaned infant that night, but few were ever certain whether it was of human or Ageless lineage... and the princess and her husband refused to discuss its parentage with anyone. If members of the Council knew, they had been enjoined by the Light they all served to keep the secret, and no word of it ever passed their lips.

The gnomi queen, the crown prince of the djinn, and the fairy king were instructed to keep an eye on the child in the human world. Their influence was constant, but so subtle that it was untraceable. Seamlessly they cooperated with her High Guardian to ensure that she stayed safe.

Whether human or Ageless, the child was loved deeply by the human family and grew to full adulthood in the sunny South of her land. By the time she had reached her early 20s, she possessed many talents, including but not limited to:
~ a kind friendliness that reached out to male and female, young and old, alike, irregardless of the color of their skin or their profession or any other of the dividers many humans felt so necessary to take into account when speaking of their fellow humans
~ a phenomenal talent for art, honed through countless hours of excruciating practice
~ an attractive, radiantly magnetic aura that made men crazy about her and girls trip over themselves to befriend her
~ a passionate adoration of the stars and moon
~ an author whose deep understanding of the world and people around her blended with a love of the Ageless, human, and Divine to spin fascinating tales that spoke not just to hearts, but to souls
~ a sensitivity that enabled her to be a comfort and a lifeline to numerous mortals
~ an intense love of solitude
~ a loyalty so deep the stars murmured in empathy
~ a light so intense that all who saw it were entranced by it

On this young woman's birthday in the year of the Light two thousand seventeen, the gnomi queen, djinn prince, and fairy king gathered to compare notes. The girl's High Guardian stopped in for a few minutes to join them in a glass of exquisite wine. All agreed that the child had grown into someone any parent, whether human or Ageless, could be justly proud of; a tempered vessel of the Eternal Light and one whose life had touched more than they could know, and would continue to touch more each year.

Her name.......

MIRRIAM

Chronicled this twenty-sixth day of April in the year of our Lord two thousand seventeen, by permission of the Light as granted to the narrator via the djinn prince.

The narrator wishes to add the very happiest of birthday wishes to the woman who will forever be the Yang to her Yin.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

MBTI. The abbreviation gets tossed around a lot, as do the sixteen personality designations resulting from it. But what IS it, really? Where did it come from and when? And WHY do people find it so fascinating?

Let's take a look at a few facts and see if we can answer those questions.

WHO

Contrary to some popular misconceptions, it was not two men but two women who developed it:

A series of questions designed to sort a person into one of sixteen personality types. Initially based on Carl Jung’s book Psychological Types, and then on extensive experience and practice by Isabel Briggs Myers.

WHEN

Longer ago than you think. Katharine began her studies in 1917, but the test itself was based on extensive research and testing by Isabel, particularly between the years of 1944 and 1962.

As one piece of a framework for better understanding people and relationships, as well as oneself and our strengths and weaknesses. This in turn allows us to interact better with people, by learning how they're likely to react or behave. It also teaches us how to capitalize on our strengths and cope with our weaknesses, learning when we need to push ourselves and when we need to give ourselves a break.

HOW

By answering a series of questions, reading the results, and sometimes retaking the test until you’ve confirmed your type is accurate.

An internet test cannot test and sort you the way a human can. It’s a fact. Which is why a person sometimes has to retake the test and choose other 'applicable answers’ for some of the questions until the result comes true.

Still have questions? Ask away and if I can't answer them, I can hopefully direct you to someone/something that can.

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Driven from their homeland by the vengeance of a bitter king, Bora and
her best friend Nari are entranced when the mists part to reveal the
beautiful land of Ashiato. Nari wishes only to be allowed to live her
life in peace, away from war and constant power mongering, but Bora
disdains peace and sets her sights higher, on the Palace itself.

Late in October 2015, I was watching an episode of the Korean drama Empress Ki, which is set during the time Goryeo (Korea) was under Yuan (Mongolian) overlordship. Lady Ki was a Korean concubine of the Yuan emperor and rose to become his empress, shortly before the southern Yuan empire dissolved and was replaced by the Ming dynasty. It’s a fascinating story of palace politics, the machinations of noble families, and the love of kings for a smart woman. (Also, an awesome Mongolian historian general.)

While watching this episode, I was chatting with my best friend, Katherine Sophia, who had watched the drama while it aired and had strenuously insisted I'd love it. (She wasn’t wrong.)

Me: GOSH, I do love Chinese court and harem dynamics.

Kate: haha. Okay, but I adored allll the facing off of everybody. It was awesome. And it’s all about power plays and crazy relationships… so it’s fascinating. XD. We wouldn’t want to live them, but they’re interesting. SO MUCH POWER. NOBODY WAS COMPLETELY STUPID OR COMPLETELY HATEFUL.

Me: ‘Xactly. As much as I think I actually personally could rise to the top and at least stay there for a while, I wouldn’t actually want to try it.

Kate: You really probably would. It’d still be pleasanter if you didn’t have to. Myself on the other hand, would probably be one of the first to die. XD

Me: Nah, you’d be the best friend that I protected all along while rising to the top. ............Ohhhhh. Now I want to write that.

Kate: Aww, okay, now I want to read that.

Me: I’m totally going to do it.

Thus, Wings of the Tiger was born.

From that beginning it became a stress-relieving story I scribbled on from time to
time, a scene here, a scene there… and then it sat for a few months and
I decided I didn’t just want it to be a 'for fun' story. I
wanted to turn it into a serious project I could throw myself into
without losing the stress relief aspects and the fun that originally
inspired it.

Brought before its king, Bora is infuriated when the priests declare
them the heirs of the prophecy to unify the land against the coming
war. She is not a pawn, to be used and to walk blindly to her doom.
She will control her own destiny. Eagerly, she flings herself into the
Court politics. But meddling with prophecies is not a game for mere
mortals, as she discovers when her life becomes currency for every
competing power and rogue swordsman in the land.

What to expect:

harems

power plays

politics

seven elemental clans, including a Phoenix clan that Kate described as ‘the Borgia family of your novel world’

animal-themed major and minor clans who spend most of their time building armies and trying to out-politic each other

princes and princesses fighting over who will become heir to the king

four or five dark lords

more power plays

alliances

elemental powers

more politics

blood magic

warriors

dragons

even more power plays

unicorns

griffins

even more politics

how far can someone go in pursuit of power for the right reasons without being corrupted

every positive trait in a person has a negative potential

Snippet:

Silently everyone awaited Bora’s cry, the final seal to allow their safe passage.

If it’s a scream they wish, they shall have it. All of the feelings she’d been holding at bay boiled out of her in a shriek that seemed to tear the sails from the mastheads. Grief over the parents she would never see again, anger at the king who should have protected her father, rage at the events from the moment of being seized by the royal guards until now, annoyance at being forced into exile from everything familiar, and above all sheer, raw fury over being a powerless pawn writhed in the sound emanating from her.

Nari clung to her, refusing to let her pull away, which in her fury she unconsciously strove to do. Her friend’s touch anchored her as the maelstrom of anger tore through her.

The ship stilled. Lightning clove the mist, hovering over the surface of the sea for a second that seemed an hour but briefer than a breath. Sailors stared, frozen in shock. The captain muttered a sharp oath and spun around to move toward the wheel but the lightning was gone and the ship moving again. Bora heard him turn to look at her but did not face him. There was nothing to be said. She had done as he asked and on her head should not rest any unforeseen result. The Captain left, walking surely and firmly from memory the length of the enshrouded deck to rejoin the sailor at the wheel.

A low, cackling laugh echoed behind them. “They asked for it and you gave it, eh?” Bok Soon said. “Without needing to divine, I predict that whether for good or evil, you bring a powerful fate to this land, Jung Bora.”

Will she bow before the forces of Time and the Universe,
or will she discover that she has set herself a task as impossible as
finding a tiger with wings? From gleaming throne rooms to blood soaked
battlefields, the tale of kings and queens, hearts and destinies; the
shieldwoman who attempted to defy destiny and the swordswoman who swore
to make it serve her.

Genres:
*steeples fingers and stares at the wall meditatively*
I've tried a wide variety of genres and genre-crosses, from urban fantasy fairy tale retelling to political psycho-thriller to East Asian historical fantasy. That said, I definitely have my favorites... and least favorites.

Favorites:
High fantasy, historical fantasy, science fantasy, historical fiction, political thrillers, military sci-fi.Least favorites:
Contemporary Christian romance (it was a soldier story dare from a sister and I poked the unfinished mess into a corner to quietly die in shame), pretty much anything contemporary unless it involves fantasy, and anything involving too many rules I have to pay attention to during the writing process.Genres I don't write:
the e-word, horror, paranormal.

Styles:
*blinks*
Third person with as many POVs as I can cram in without confusing readers... too much.
Complex 'big-picture' tapestries with as many colors of the rainbow as will fit.
Ideas that make my family (and a lot of friends) scratch their heads and wonder what planet dropped me on Earth.
I don't know, man, this is a hard question. I like to try to make people think.

Topics:
These range all over the known globe but there are a few constants:
Loyalty
Friendship
Common Sense
Power plays and their effects on people
Manipulation
Politics
People who actually use their brains

2. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WRITING?

I was.... seven or eight when I first picked a pencil to tell a story. So nearing two decades, give or take.

3. WHY DO YOU WRITE?

If I tell you, you might meet a bloody death in my novel. Are you sure you want to know?

4. WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO WRITE?

O.o Gosh, when isn't??????

I do most of my best writing in the afternoon when I know I have a few uninterrupted hours or late at night when inspired with maniacal fervor.

5. PARTS OF WRITING YOU LOVE VS. PARTS YOU HATE?

Love:
Creating worlds and watching them come alive
Releasing stress and internal cogitation via the written word
Writing something I know is going to make people raise their eyebrows at me
Hopefully writing something that is going to make people feel deeply on all levels

Hate:
Never having enough time to write all of the ideas that come
The length of time it takes for something I've written to become presentable
The near-constant self-doubt

6. HOW DO YOU OVERCOME WRITERS BLOCK?

Take a walk
Take a shower
Switch to writing something else for a day or two
Watch Korean dramas
Eat something sugary
Challenge Mirriam to a writing contest of some sort

If all else fails, then I bury myself in a book or Pinterest and growl at anyone who tries to un-bury me.

Begin the first draft of Wings of the Tiger
Work toward finishing the first draft of A Certain Darkness
Revise Queen Beauty and the Beasts
Write a fate worse than death for my enemies
Edit Queen Beauty and the Beasts
Make someone cry with something I wrote
Pooossibly publish or query Queen Beauty and the Beasts

Now it's your turn. Take this tag over to your blog posthaste and answer it and then leave me a link in the comments! (Alternatively, you can answer it /in/ the comments.)

Thursday, April 13, 2017

I've seen this phrase in various places, from being splashed all over Pinterest to showing up in fairy tale retellings. Every time I come across it, I grit my teeth and hiss. A couple of weeks ago, I encountered it in a middle-grade fantasy I was reading. I managed to repress the strong urge to throw the aforementioned book across the room and finish the prologue before yanking a notebook towards me to scribble the foundation of this blog post.

Why do I loathe this particular piece of writing advice/inspiration/what have you?

Simply put, because it's poppycock. A lie.Rubbish.

A villain is not 'just' anything, least of all 'just a victim'. True, many villains started out as victims, and naturally, that experience shaped them drastically. But somewhere along the way, they made choices that led them down the road to villainy.

Every victim has a choice. They can allow their past to define them
and turn them into something dark as they take revenge on others or
attempt to revenge themselves on Time itself for the wrongs they have
suffered. They can choose to continue the cycle of abuse and evil and become the villain
oppressing others, creating more victims.

OR

They can stand up and they can say 'no more' and do their best to move beyond their victim past, not allowing it to define them.

Is being a victim horrible? Yes, absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt. But just because someone was a victim doesn't mean that they will automatically become a villain. Many heroes were victims, too. But they made the choice to overcome that experience. People in real life make choices every single day to overcome their past as victims and live as survivors and heroes.

It doesn't matter how misunderstood a person is because of their past,
or how much pain and agony they suffered, or how warped and twisted were
the people they knew. Everyone has a choice. Every person (or alien or whatever) chooses
good or bad. And if they consistently make the wrong choices, if they refuse to
choose good when they could, that's what makes them a villain.

Do I think there are opportunities for villains in books to have been misunderstood victims and be written as gray characters whose pain and grief drove them to inflict pain on others? Sure. And as a writer, reaching into that victim past enables us to guide the
reader to feel sympathy or understanding for the villain, thereby making them more well-rounded (hopefully without blurring the lines of morality in the process). But the fact that the character is a villain still comes down to choice, not their history.

"Well, fine," you say, "but what about the saying 'every villain is the hero of their own story'? Doesn't that nullify your point?"
Absolutely not. According to the technical definitions of hero and villain, that is an erroneous saying. (Definitions courtesy of the New Oxford American Dictionary.)

hero:a person who is admired for or idealized for courage,
outstanding achievements, or noble qualities; also, the chief male
character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically
identified with good qualities or choices, and with whom the reader is
expected to
sympathize

villain:a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot

A villain may be the main character of their own story, but they are not the hero. Writing a story from the POV of the villain- or including their POV- doesn't change whether what they did was right or wrong. Stories seen through the bad guy's eyes can be fascinating, when well written. But one's past can never be used to excuse one's present.

The choices of others make people victims. A person's OWN choice makes them a villain or a hero.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

At long last, I have again written a scene for my own prompt. Well, completed it, I should say; I started one for each month this year, just didn't finish them.

“Why me?”

“Are you questioning your king?”

“Merely his choice.”

“Still a crime to some kings.”

The person cloaked in lavender silk tossed her head mockingly. “Not you. You enjoy being questioned by competent people, which you obviously consider me to be, or you wouldn’t have chosen me.”

“You’ve just answered your own question.”

Noorilan rolled her eyes and sheathed the sword she had been idly examining for nicks. “No, because you always have a reason for thinking a person is competent. You don’t even know my real name, my king.”

Daniar picked up an iron poker from the fire and cauterized the wound still oozing blood above his elbow, studying his newest general with quick sideways glances. Replacing the poker, he reached for clean linen to bind up the wound but she was quicker, snatching it away from him. The right corner of his mouth tipped up in amusement as he held out his arm to allow her better access. Deftly, she spread salve on the ragged, roughly diagonal line and then bound it securely.

“Did you mean your loyalty?”

Arrested in her progress away from him by the voice that sounded as if it emanated from Vulcan, she halted and twisted back around. “What?”

“Did you mean it when you swore your loyalty to me?”

For several seconds, she stared into intense but steady eyes under craggy brows, searching for the trick in the question. “I swore a blood oath,” she answered finally.

“Yes,” he replied, smiling now. “And you come from a country that is possibly the only land to take it more seriously than ours.”

Smoky blue eyes widened. “So, you already knew I meant it.”

Bass chuckles vibrated the air as he came toward her and reached out to clasp her shoulder. “That is why I chose you. I don’t need to know your real name. Your loyalty is your name, your reputation, your record, and all that matters. Can you defeat your sister?”

Fire licked up her spine to dance with laughing confidence in her face. “Of course, my king.”

His smile widened at the emphasis on the personal pronoun. “I want her alive.”

“It will be done.”

His other arm came up to press a badge into her hand. “You are thrice welcome to the army of Kaliyev, my general.”

Thursday, March 23, 2017

About a year ago I started watching the show Person of Interest. It had a great premise of the kind that I usually devour, some good characters, and began with some thought provoking questions of morality and ethics.

But, I just didn't like Reece. Which is kind of a problem, since he's, y'know, only the main character of the show.

I struggled to really put myself into his mindset and understand him. He didn’t intrigue me, he annoyed me. Now, theoretically, I should have loved him. He seems to be everything I enjoy in many characters: mysterious, effective, cryptic, scarred because of betrayal, lonely, good guy at heart who doesn't really have a reason to keep going or anything for which to fight.

But no matter how hard I tried - and I did try - I just couldn't really /like/ the guy.

It finally irritated me so much that I took a break from the show for a few months. Then, several weeks ago, needing a distraction during my intense push to finish my urban fantasy novel, I went back to watching it. And I figured out why he bothers me so much, and correspondingly, why I just can't like the show.

Reece lacks flair and charisma.
He delivers his lines with a deadpan expression that’s supposed to be amusing BUT ISN’T. He lacks the charisma to make the wryness funny.

He’s one-dimensional, sometimes two-dimensional. One knows there are other sides to him but he comes across as flat because the other dimensions are only vaguely hinted at in a very cloak and dagger mysterious way that is supposed to make one intrigued but made me want to fling something at the screen. Now, I think this might be a simple case of too much telling us that Reece has other sides and not enough showing us, but I'm not sure. I didn't stay around long enough to find out.

The actor doesn’t facially emote very well in this role and that is VITAL in acting. Now, I don't know this actor from anything else, and I'm NOT making comments on what kind of a person he is in real life, or bashing him in any way. I'm just stating that in this role, he wasn't great at facially emoting- at least from what I saw. If an actor doesn’t facially emote enough for people to
be able to read their expressions, it's hard to feel connected with their character.

Reece doesn't do a good job of manipulating or inspiring people yet the show portrays his methods as working in the real world. People
have to be //connected with// to be inspired or controlled. If he came up to me and told me I was in danger with the same cryptic, sounding-like-a-stalker comments about trusting him and following his lead that he's said to several other characters on the show, I'd either kick/punch him and run away or call the cops.

When you are
making what could come across as a creepy stalker comment about how you
know someone is in danger, the difference is in how you communicate it.
Make sure the other person thinks that it's because you are a secret superhero who wants to save them, not because you
have access to information that invades the other person's privacy.

There's not enough humor in the show.
The show has a great premise. But Finch
and Carter are really the only funny people on the show for the first several episodes- and Carter has comparatively few scenes during that
time.

Voltaire said that a sense of humor is the only thing that keeps intelligent people from hanging themselves. Finch delivers this - it's hilarious to see him frustrating Reece's attempts to find out more about him. Carter's exasperation with not being able to find Reece or discover anything about him is plain amusing in a way that makes you feel sorry for her and instantly connect with her.

Reece occasionally smiles, but he often feels like a blank canvas. Humor is often found merely in the inflection of words. But his inflection is rather oddball, and not in an amusing way.

For example, the phrase: 'easier said than done.' At one point in episode six or seven there's a scene that goes like this:
Finch: 'You need to get her talking.'
Reece: 'Easier said than done.'
But instead of Reece saying: 'Easier SAID than DONE', his inflection is 'EAsier said than done'.

To use another example: several times Reece will tell someone, 'It's a long story' but his inflection is: 'IT'S a long story' as opposed to 'it's a LONG story'.

Adios, show.
Like most people, I'm a busy person with a lot of irons in the fire. When I can be persuaded to give myself a break and use that time to sit down in front of a TV show; I expect to be entertained, amused, and given something about which to think. Otherwise, there's not much point in watching it in the first place. Reece consistently made me growl at the screen, roll my eyes, and want to smack him. Whiiiiiiich... isn't really conducive to relaxing.

So I dropped the show. There are dozens of other shows on my TBW list- and some that I'm currently watching- which give me an intriguing plot but also deliver humor,
charismatic characters, intensity, and thought provoking plots. I'd rather spend my time on them.

"But Arielle," you say, "you're just a very critical person. Maybe you're being too harsh on the show." It's entirely possible. This is, after all, just my personal evaluation. If you are curious about the show or think you want to try it, go ahead!

Disclaimer: I only watched the first third of the first season. It may well improve in later seasons, but for myself personally, there wasn't enough of interest in this show to keep pulling me past the slow and lame sections.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

“I don’t see myself that way.”
“I know. We never see ourselves as others see us.”

It was late at night and I was talking to my friend Jack, who is a wonderful person and someone without whom my life would not be complete. On this particular night we were discussing the ever-relevant subject of Life. As we separated for bed shortly after the above interchange, I continued musing on the 'outside' view of someone- say, from a friend- vs. our personal 'inside' view.

Most of my small group of close friends are very self aware. We know our faults and flaws, we know what we have to do to fix them, we’re (sometimes) good at identifying the sources of our stress, we’re good at knowing what we want to change most about ourselves.

But we rarely see ourselves as others see us.

There is a candle in every soul

Some brightly burning, some dark and cold......

Carry your candle, run to the darkness

Seek out the hopeless, confused and torn

Hold out your candle for all to see it

Take your candle, and go light your world....

We are a family whose hearts are blazing

So let's raise our candles and light up the sky....

Make us a beacon in darkest times

~ Go Light Your World - Kathy Troccoli ~

Many people don’t even realize they are candles. This is not a bad thing (sometimes it prevents us from becoming arrogant) if there are others present to tell us what they see and to remind us to keep our flames burning; even to shield our flames through storms. But if we refuse to believe those people when they point out the positive sides in our natures, if all we focus on is what we think we should be or what the world appreciates as opposed to what we are, then we’re snuffing our candle flame.

You don’t have to have 200 FB friends or blog followers. You don’t have to be perpetually cheerful, to never say a negative word or have a bad day or be furious about something or have an irrational emotional reaction. You don't have to be someone whose personality the world understands. You don’t even have to have a decent life. No matter who you are, where you are in life, or what your world is like, you can be a candle.

Tall, taper candles; perfumed votives; fancifully carven pillars; a simple, undecorated square: every candle has a place. We never know when we’re going to touch someone’s life. Sometimes it’s the ‘hi’ spoken to a random stranger. Sometimes it’s leaving comments on blog posts or FB statuses. It can seem like a lot of trouble to comment on everyone’s new profile pics or even to just react to a post without commenting. Sometimes it's leaving a message just saying, ‘hey, I appreciate you’ or ‘hey, you’re a really cool person’. Texting someone to ask how they are doing. Tweeting an enthusiastic agreement of someone’s random Twitter status.

This is a difficult concept for me and for many others I know. Not only do we not think we have anything worthwhile to give most people, we know people who are bright candles already and seeing the good job they are doing, we think, ‘why would WE be needed?’.

But the truth is that no one else’s candle is exactly like yours. And the world needs every candle it can get, especially yours, with your unique personality coloring the flame. (If you don’t believe me, go read the politics news for about ten minutes and then come back. Or do a google search on life under a communist regime such as China, North Korea, or Vietnam. Mmmhmm, believe me now?)